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IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: July 2nd, 2013

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*TechrightsBot has quit (Ping timeout: 264 seconds)Jul 02 18:09
schestowitz> Hi RoyJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> Blimey - a lot of experiences!Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> One thing to remember these days is the explosion in corporate spyingJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> (what I call the mercenary spies).Jul 02 19:25
schestowitzBooz Allen got called "digital Blackwater". There were recently reports about Blackwater ties to CIA (Prince) being reaffirmed, just as people like Clapper show clear ties between the NSA and Booz Allen (many revolving doors there). Privatisation is a hot topic here too... lots of British "Job Creators" and "successful" people are building their career inheriting what's public through their politician friends.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> Post 9/11 these private companiesJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> have grown exponentially, are regularly employed by big corporationsJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> who want info on activists, and who employ many former state spooks.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitzI never saw any government connections in PR agencies that I explored/researched. I wonder to what degree -- if any -- there is overlap between private and "private" (for the state). In my case, it would have been companies like Novell seeking to dig 'dirt' on me.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> They are utterly unaccountable, and will use the same tactics as theJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> official IC.  MI5 etc often get the blame for these corporateJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> operations, and those making the accusations about "MI5" etc can lookJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> paranoid and are easier to dismiss.  It's a win-win for the spooks ofJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> every flavour.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitzHBGary was working with Bank of America and based on the New York Times, Booz Allen was also in the picture. I never saw anything similar to that in the software world.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitz> If you just want to carry on with your work and research, I would flagJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> up your concerns with trusted friends but not necessarily go hugelyJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> public at this point.  I would also set up some insurance on theJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> internet - a "dead man's key" - so that if anything weird were toJul 02 19:25
schestowitz> happen, all your experiences and evidence comes out.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitzIn a way, decrypting mail would give access to some such material. Other than that, I have spoken about this with Richard Stallman and people who are involved in my site.Jul 02 19:25
schestowitzI didn't lose many nights' sleep over it, but several years ago (in my early 20s) I was threatened a lot, got death wishes, and at times become vaguely aware that some nutter might come to "get" me. It wasn't pleasant until I got used to it, hence complacent (thick skin and all).Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz~6 years later, when I started writing a lot about the NSA and CIA (long before it became mainstream) I would also occasionally worry a little, thinking that a friendly police visit wouldn't be far-fetched.Jul 02 19:26
schestowitzOne thing I may not have mentioned is, this "friend" from the police (Met, not Greater Manchester Police) told me about 2 years ago that he had run my name through some databases at work and didn't find my name (I didn't ask him to do this). He said I'm not on these databases. Coming from a cop who misleads groups to enter them (racist white groups around London) I wasn't sure how to interpret this. Bear in mind, he'd grow a beard Jul 02 19:26
schestowitzand change styles and stuff to make personas on his job; he told me so. I think he also had some fake ID or something.Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> It's a difficult position to be in as a campaigner.  Without proof,Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> one can be dismissed as paranoid, but it doesn't mean you're not beingJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> watched...Jul 02 19:26
schestowitzI don't want to be labelled that. Some people try to put that label on your or your former colleague and they probably manage to convince some people (even by association), thus distancing potential audience from you. Jul 02 19:26
schestowitzAt this age of protests and unrest, the only paranoid people seem to be in government and mansions.Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Hi, Roy,Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz>  [21:06] <msb__> schestowitz: I'm not getting DNS for techrights.orgJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> It's out for me, too:Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz>  $ host www.techrights.orgJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Host www.techrights.org not found: 3(NXDOMAIN)Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> $ dig @193.210.18.18 www.techrights.orgJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ; <<>> DiG 9.4.2-P2 <<>> @193.210.18.18 www.techrights.orgJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ; (1 server found)Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;; global options:  printcmdJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;; Got answer:Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: SERVFAIL, id: 23492Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 0, ADDITIONAL: 0Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;; QUESTION SECTION:Jul 02 19:26
schestowitz> ;www.techrights.org.            IN      AJul 02 19:26
schestowitz> Jul 02 19:27
schestowitz> ;; Query time: 10 msecJul 02 19:27
schestowitz> ;; SERVER: 193.210.18.18#53(193.210.18.18)Jul 02 19:27
schestowitz> ;; WHEN: Tue Jul  2 21:12:52 2013Jul 02 19:27
schestowitz> ;; MSG SIZE  rcvd: 36Jul 02 19:27
schestowitzDatacentre outage. Tracy told me.Jul 02 19:27
schestowitzhttps://joindiaspora.com/posts/2796932Jul 02 19:50
schestowitz"i really hope that in case MrWhatistsworth proceeds with his antiGNU policy, which is seemingly the case, that the derivates will finally turn into debian-derivates again; and we will see Ubuntu left alone, with steam and amazon and co."Jul 02 19:50
schestowitzhttps://joindiaspora.com/posts/2796929Jul 02 19:50
schestowitz"sailfish"Jul 02 19:51
*TechrightsBot (~b0t@mail.copilotco.com) has joined #boycottnovellJul 02 20:52
TechrightsBotHello World! I'm TechrightsBot running phIRCe v0.58Jul 02 20:52
TechrightsBotCouldn't resolve host 'TechRights.org' ( http://TechRights.org )Jul 02 20:52
schestowitz> Speaking of noise, there are quite a few articles like this one:Jul 02 22:54
schestowitz> Jul 02 22:55
schestowitz> http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57592018-93/is-don-mattrick-zyngas-would-be-savior/Jul 02 22:55
TechrightsBotTitle: Is Don Mattrick Zynga's would-be savior? | Internet & Media - CNET News .::. Size~: 80.57 KBJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> Jul 02 22:55
schestowitz> A major annoyance is the revisionism about the success of the Xbox.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitz> It's consistently trailed the others.  I don't have links any more, butJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> I used to be able to point out that it was behind PS2, putting it inJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> fourth place.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzXbox 360 was released for Xmas a year ahead of Sony's and Nintendo's counterparts. Nintendo was the big winner of that generation and PS2 continued to outsell them all. While Microsoft was struggling with RRoD PS3 beat it on technical grounds and outside the US in terms of sales too (Microsoft spin latched onto US-only 'figures').Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzTo call Xbox 360 a success is quite utterly to lie. But this lie was repeated in the Microsoft-controlled press, highlighting some KINect hype and ignoring the massive losses amassed over the years (success was not high when it comes to customer satisfaction, freedom, or even profit).Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzWhen you challenge propaganda of a 100,000-men-strong company you're feeling weak, but any dent you can make is worthwhile. Taking on a 5,000-men-strong felt a bit hard sometimes, but recognition of the impact came when I saw the trolls they sent my way.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzThe consoles are all evil. The mainstream ones, including Sony's openwashed ones (Linux or FreeBSD-ish), are not where we want computing to go. "We" as in activists for Good{tm}. It's like arguing over whether IBM, Google, or Microsoft should reign in servers (never mind Amazon, Rackspace etc. although Rackspace is quite OK). I'm tired of brand wars... see how many years PJ wasted batting for Apple. Prior to that Novell and IBM... Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzproprietary software companies. I'm sticking up to freedom. There is no board or shareholders in this team. Same for privacy and other human rights values...Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzNB: in 2003-2006 I was worried about Microsoft to the extent that I was willing to battle even for Sony and Apple, anything BUT Microsoft would be acceptable. I know better now and some events involving those companies taught me never to waste time on brands/camps. Just vilifying all that's bad and promoting no brand is good as well. It can reform companies or encourage emergence of "ethical" companies, e.g. Jolla, Firefox from Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzMozilla, etc.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitz> PS.  Kubuntu installed in minutes on the notebook but cannot find eitherJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> my wireless or my 3G modem.  I'll have to put that off till tomorrow andJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> try looking into it then.  I don't have big hopes for an answer on theJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> forums, however.  Last I recall the 3G modem was found (and worked) justJul 02 22:55
schestowitz> by plugging it in.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzThis is a kernel-level matter, so oughtn't be broken by an upgrade. One way or another, maybe with some documentation-seeking effort, you'll have it working for years to come.Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzToday I donated to a couple of Linux sites. I am eager to keep running Techrights for many years to come. I found a way of using walking/working out time to compose posts slowly and choosing my words carefully enough. More job security would be nice, but these days we're all being robbed by those who want to suppress activism. If 1929 is the 2008 equivalent, then we're in 1935 now... hyperinflation can be almost equated to austerityJul 02 22:55
schestowitz(I read about interment camps in Greece today, amid the rise of Nazi-analogous parties) and the revelations in the US right now are raising tension, showing digital armament and an "act of war" by Pentagon standards. Annie reckons that governments know the next war will be laregely digital, and not just because of some geek like Turing decrypting Enigma. What we're doing online in sites like Techrights (and with sites like Moody's, Jul 02 22:55
schestowitzGroklaw) that challenge authority does have some impact. I'd like to see Europe elevating itself above the US and Asia. I think the US gained a lot of unfair advantage using government subsidies for large corporations (tax breaks, government deals as passage of money, etc.) in addition to espionage. This is acting in bad faith and as an advocate of fair competition (my byline has been the same for 7 years) I can't stand for it.Jul 02 22:55

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